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Madhva

A.D. 1238

Madhva appeared in this world in Pajakshetra, Karnataka, South India. As a boy he was called Vasudeva, and after receiving initiation he was known as Purna Prajna. At the age of ten or twelve he accepted sannyasa (the renounced order of life) and became known as Ananda Tirtha. Madhva propounded the doctrine of tattva-vada, or suddha-dvaita-vada (purified dualism), which strongly opposes all doctrines of monism. His doctrine discerns five differences: between (1) the soul and God, (2) soul and soul, (3) the soul and matter, (4) God and matter, and (5) matter and matter. Madhva wrote forty-two books, including a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita that he explained before Vyasadeva at Badarikashrama. Madhva left the world in A.D. 1319 in Udupi at the Ananta-shayana temple.